Professional artists, especially in the days of royalty, lived by
commission. That's not commission like a salesman receives: 10% of
every sale. No, it's the commission a patron of the arts would give
to an artist to produce a particular piece – think the ceiling of
the Sistine Chapel. Can we then say that Christ commissions the Church,
that he hands over the job, but also the full payment that makes it
happen? All we need to do is ask: the love we have for each other in
the Church, what explains it? That it's our love, or that it's
Christ's Church?
Jesus mentions the love we have for each other in the Church. But
love is a word that always depends on how you use it. It's the worst
word in the world if it's the same as saying “here's what you have
to do to find God”. That's because the command to love is still a
command. And the command to love in the same way that Christ loved
you is also a command, and a very high one – Christ's love is a
sacrificial love to the point of death. We can't match that. To be
sure, the love that Christ has for you is no command but a great
promise. But to say “do that love” is a command. And it's
serious because it's a love we could never reach, much less perfectly
keep. This is very obvious, because most of the commandments are the
ones we think we can keep without a problem (like 'do not steal').
We're wrong about that, because we don't understand the true weight of sin
apart from God's Word, but that's what we think. That's why the
'popular' commandments are the ones we think we can do. “Love God
perfectly, all the time”- that's one I can't do. “Love one
another in the Church” - that's easy, I mean, unless they get in my
way. Oops. If we cling to our ability to love one another, we're in
for a surprise. We can't.
But it makes sense that the Church is a place where love doesn't
come to life. This very often is the cause of a lot of distress for
Christians: a lack of Christian love. But it makes sense: Christians
are and remain sinners. Our sinful nature keeps rearing its ugly
head. That's not a surprise, it's why we hear the Scriptures talk of
the need for daily repentance and return to our baptism. It's the
love that does come to life in the Church that we think is easy to
explain, but in fact it's the hardest to explain.
Very often this last week I heard this statement: “The Scripture
is clear. We are unclear.” And that statement is right. Consider
this: Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love
one another” and we say “Great, if I love people, then God will
love me and save me.” Jesus' words are clear, but I have just
muddied the water, so to speak. And that's serious, because that's
false teaching, which always hurts and always elevates ourself before
God.
We want to hold our love up to God and say “here's how I did
it”.
But that's going against what Jesus says here (notice how the
argument about love doesn't really have much to do with the context
of Jesus' words?). The context is everything. Jesus isn't laying
down lists the disciples can use to become good enough to be saved, he's
talking about his glory by which he saves us. He speaks the words of
today's Gospel right after Judas leaves the upper room. Why? To
betray Jesus over to death on a cross – which is the love by which
Jesus loved us, and loved us to the end (as John 13:1 says – which
is more good context!). But our love is connected to that.
Love is something good. But what does our elevating our own love
do? Elevating our love is a way to deny that we are justified by
God's grace alone. The temptation is to say that since love is so
great (and it is) that it must play a part in our salvation (it
doesn't, only Christ does. He's not such a poor Savior that he would
need you to finish what he started.)
So, love is the best word in the world when Christ commissions the
Church by handing over his death. Now we do start heavily using the
context of Jesus' words. We start with these words: Jesus' 'glory'
and his words “just as I have loved you”. Christ's glory is his
sacrificial death on the cross. Christ's death is something we can
hold up to God, and say “look, my dear Savior has done this
completely, and he has done it for me.” Elevating Christ's love
(by which he loved us by dying for our sins on the cross and
promising us forgiveness), this explains how there can be love in his
Church. That's because it at the same time puts our love in the
right place and brings it about. Our love doesn't earn anything from
God, but Christ's love brings our love to life, like sun and rain and
soil bring a seed to life.
And then we turn to that word Jesus uses: commandment. Here's the
other times John uses that word before chapter 13: “No
one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I
have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up
again. This charge I have received from my Father."
” “For
I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has
himself given me a commandment-- what to say and what to speak.
And
I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I
say as the Father has told me." ” When
Jesus uses that word, he uses it as something he has received from
the Father, not as a command but a commissioning, and what he
receives from his Father is the sacrificial death that he will die
for the life of the world! And does Jesus give that
to his disciples? Oh, absolutely. He gives the content of his
cross, as the foundation and lifeblood of the Church. Neat, huh?
The Church is God's gift and our love isn't built by us and
presented to God but received and shared (presented to each other)
because the content of Jesus' death is received and shared according
to his Word and Sacraments.
There is no explanation for the love the Church has for one another
apart from Christ (which is why the commissioning isn't “do this:
love one another” but “that you may be able to love one another
in the first place” - you can't explain the Church as a group of
people with similar interests and opinions. 1 John chapter 4 tells
of this love which is unlike any other love the world can produce: “1
John 4: “Beloved,
let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has
been born of God and knows God. 8
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his
only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and
sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us
and his love is perfected in us. 13
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has
given us of his Spirit. 14
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be
the Savior of the world. 15
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him,
and he in God. 16
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.
God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides
in him. 17
By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for
the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.
18
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear
has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected
in love. 19
We love because he first loved us. 20
If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is
a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot
love God whom he has not seen. 21
And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also
love his brother. ”
Our love isn't bad, but it has a source and it has a purpose - to
point to the source. Jesus says, “By this all people will know that
you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” The world
recognizes that these are Jesus' disciples because they have his good
news, which has brought about such love. When we proclaim our love,
we have nothing special. When we proclaim Christ's love, Christ
gives eternal life by his words and his love bears a lot of fruit.
Love is the best word in the world if it's the same as saying “Here
is everything that Christ has done for you”.
Conclusion: Christ's commission of the beautiful Church is only seen
as being beautiful when his death is seen as the greatest love and
glory in the world. The truth of God's Word is love. God's promises
free us from having to earn God's love. Christ explains how it is
possible for there to be love in the Church. Our love is the result
of God's love – and, in fact, our love is shown in the fact that
the content of the Church is Christ's death and love. This doesn't
elevate our work, this is his work - that he forgives our sins, and
grants us eternal life. Amen.
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